Mind, Body, Heart and Soul
by schweeet
Summary: "I wish I had the luxury of divulging my true purpose in a more delicate manner, but I'm afraid time is of the essence so I'll be blunt. Klaus needs your help. It's a matter of life or death. I'd like you to come back with me to New Orleans at once."
1. Chapter 1

"Come on, Tyler. You can't be serious!"

Caroline rolled her eyes at Matt and the ridiculousness of this conversation, but he refused to let it go.

"If you had the power to compel, that's what you would use it for? Of all the things in the world, you would want a lifetime pass for all-you-can-eat Taco Bell?"

Caroline tuned out Tyler's impassioned response and turned her thoughts to the scene around her. Sitting in a booth at the Grille with Tyler's arm around her and Matt and Elena sitting across from them, it almost felt like old times. It reminded her of the uncomplicated days when they were all human, back before the disasters of recent years. Of course, life wasn't so easy anymore and it had taken awhile for them to get back to a position where they could laugh and joke after the news of Bonnie's death, but they were slowly clawing their way back to a semblance of normality. She and Elena were currently home for Christmas break from their freshman year at Whitmore and Tyler and Matt had some time off from the local community college, so Caroline had insisted they all sit down to lunch and had proceeded to place a ban on any and all potentially depressing subjects of conversation. So far it had been going pretty well and Caroline was extremely pleased with herself, until she happened to look up and see a sight that had been blessedly absent for over six months now. An Original had returned to Mystic Falls.

The lack of Originals had greatly contributed to the peace that her group of friends had enjoyed recently, so she couldn't say she was exactly pleased that the vacation appeared to have ended. Nor could she mask her surprise when said Original's eyes lit upon seeing her and he proceeded to beeline towards their table.

"Elijah?"

She couldn't quite mask the shock in her tone, while in the back of her mind she registered that the conversation at the table had abruptly ceased and three heads snapped in the direction where her gaze was already locked. Elijah seemed only to have eyes for her though; he reached their table and directed his words solely to her.

"Caroline. May I have a word? It's both urgent and extremely important."

His ingrained sense of propriety prompted him to offer a polite nod towards the other inhabitants of the table, but Caroline could tell he was on edge and wanted desperately to speak with her alone. Despite his rather sudden appearance, Caroline had no reason to expect he meant her harm and couldn't see a reason to refuse one of the most powerful beings on the planet, especially when he was the picture of civility. She exchanged some wary glances with her friends but could see they had reached the same conclusion, so she accepted and proceeded to follow Elijah outside. Feeling off balance, she waited for him to speak first.

"Caroline, I must apologize for interrupting what appeared to be a very pleasant lunch. I am sure my appearance was a shock, as well as an unpleasant indicator of what's to come. However, I assure you that my family's departure from Mystic Falls remains in effect and we shall not be permanently returning to inconvenience you and your friends anytime soon.

I wish I had the luxury of divulging my true purpose in a more delicate manner, but I'm afraid time is of the essence so I'll be blunt. Klaus needs your help. It's a matter of life or death. I'd like you to come back with me to New Orleans at once."


	2. Chapter 2

Caroline stumbled back into the Grille a few minutes later, in a daze. Her head was still reeling with the few details Elijah had given her, as well as with hundreds of possibilities to fill in the blanks he hadn't quite covered. Caroline gave herself a mental shake, reminding herself that Elijah promised she would have all the details if she showed up for the evening flight to Louisiana and that she currently had a more immediate problem to deal with: her friends. As she made her way over to the table, she steeled herself for an interrogation and wasn't disappointed. In typical Elena fashion, Caroline was bombarded with questions before she even managed to fully sit down.

"Are you okay? What is Elijah doing here? What did he want with you? Are the Originals coming back to Mystic Falls?"

Caroline wasn't sure how long this would've gone on for, but she decided to forestall the rest of the monologue by raising her hand and attempting to answer the first round of questions.

"Woah, Elena. Slow down! I can only answer so many questions at once. First of all, I'm totally fine and the Originals are not coming back to Mystic Falls any time soon, so you can stop worrying on those fronts. As for what he's doing here and what he wanted with me, that's a little more complicated."

Caroline took this opportunity to take a deep breath, knowing that at least two people at the table were not going to take the next piece of information well.

"He wants me to come with him back to New Orleans. Klaus needs my help."

As expected, both Elena and Tyler immediately erupted into angry tirades.

"He did what? I can't believe he believes you would help the monster that has made our lives miserable for two years. You're not going right? Of course you aren't. You're smarter than that."

"That no-good son of a bitch. I'm sure this is just scheme my stupid sire cooked up to try and steal you away from me. He's probably not even in trouble. He's always wanted to get in your pants and this is just a new way of trying to seduce you. Good thing you're not going – he deserves to have one of his evil plans fail."

Caroline once again raised her hands to quiet the unending commentaries from her boyfriend and best friend. In the back of her mind, she registered her annoyance that both of them had felt it appropriate to make the decision for her, without even waiting to hear what she thought about the issue. She also resented Tyler's implication that Klaus only wanted her for sex, and gave a brief thought to what exactly that said about his view of her and their relationship, but she chased the stray thought away quickly. Instead she focused on what she wanted to say to her now expectant friends.

"First of all, I just want you to know that I do not appreciate being treated like I'm still that blonde cheerleader who was only good for talking about boys or planning the next school dance. I'd like to think I've earned a little more respect than that with all I've been through these past couple years and it hurts me when you guys don't recognize that."

She was pleased to see Elena was looking a little ashamed of her earlier words and Caroline mentally forgave her, knowing the earlier words weren't meant to be hurtful. Tyler, on the other hand, had subsided somewhat but storm clouds were still brewing on his face and Caroline could make out some mumbling about "Klaus" and "break his neck." Still, she had something important to say so she soldiered on.

"Also, although I appreciate your opinions on the matter, I've already made up my mind. I'm going to New Orleans." She continued quickly before the sounds of disbelief and outrage could turn into actual words. "I know you won't understand, but I've made up my mind. It must be an extremely serious situation if Elijah came all the way here to get me and I believed him when he said it was a matter of life and death." She steeled herself to say the last part, which she knew one particular member of the table would really not like. "I also think I should do it for Klaus. He's saved my life at least four times that I can think of and helped me out in a couple other ways as well. The last time he came all the way from New Orleans because I asked and he cured Damon from a wolf bite." This last was said with a pointed look at Elena, hoping to forestall any protests from that corner. "I feel like I _owe_ him and I want to pay my debt."

Thankfully Elena did seem to be thinking a little more rationally about the whole thing after Caroline's little speech and Caroline could recognize the signs of someone who is coming around to the idea and will eventually cave. Matt, who had been almost entirely silent since this whole thing began, looked at her with the quiet acceptance and supportive attitude he had perfected throughout the years of being the only human in a supernatural group. Caroline privately thinks of the look he gives as the "you do you" look, as if he is recognizing a person's ability to make his or her own choices.

The last person at the table is not so accepting and when Caroline turned to look she can see that Tyler's anger has been building whilst she was contemplating their other friends. His face is a mask of tightly controlled rage and Caroline is unpleasantly reminded of the days when he first became and werewolf and he always seemed on the verge of losing control. She knew it was a long shot but she desperately hoped he didn't say anything too embarrassing or unforgivable when he opened his mouth to speak.

"You're going to do what?! You do remember this is the guy that used his sire band to make do all sorts of crazy stuff, right? And now you're going to drop everything and run off to New Orleans just because he's having a little trouble? This is so like you, Caroline. You're so insecure that any time any guy shows even a little bit of interest, you eat it right up. You kept telling me that nothing happened between the two of you but we all know that's not true. Just admit it why don't you? You spread your legs for him the moment he asked!" Tyler's voice had progressively risen louder throughout his rant and their section of the Grille was silent and clearly hanging on to every word. He was red in the face and panting a little, having worked himself up over the course of his little speech.

Caroline was humiliated. She had never been so embarrassed in her life. But Caroline was also _pissed. _And that anger allowed her to keep her face neutral and her voice steady as she uttered two words to her very much in-trouble boyfriend.

"Outside. _Now_."


End file.
